Inactivation of Ice Nucleating Activity of Silver Iodide by Antifreeze Proteins and Synthetic Polymers

Abstract

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) are known as anti-ice nucleating agents (anti-INAs), which inhibit ice nucleation initiated by ice nucleating agents (INAs). Although the effectiveness of anti-INAs depends on the type of INA, most previous studies on anti-INAs used only a few types of biological INAs as targets to inactivate. In this study, the effects of fish AFPs (AFP I and AFP III) and PVA on the ice nucleating activity of silver iodide (AgI) were measured by using emulsified solutions. Results showed that AgI was inactivated not only by AFPs and PVA but also by two other polymers previously not considered as anti-INAs, namely, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) and poly(ethylene glycol). Even in the presence of AgI, a non-negligible fraction, typically more than 10%, of emulsified droplets of these anti-INA solutions at 1.0 mg mL(-1) was supercooled to about -37 °C, which corresponds to ice nucleation temperature measured in the absence of AgI.